"All Things Bright and Beautiful" by James Harriot. A "Sort Of" Review.

 

A delightful work. Filled with very believable stories about a country veterinarian in Scotland. The people feel real, the relationships feel real, the animals feel real, the odd situations upon odd situations feels real. I loved it.

It's set in the years leading up to Word War II, when veterinary medicine (and the medical world, for that matter) lacked many of the antibiotics, inoculations, and treatments we now take for granted. Therefore, in these stories is the human struggle with disease, folk-medicine, ignorance, tradition, and the like. It's a beautiful set of tales that show human compassion, frustration, self-control, and problem-solving.

For my fellow ministers and elders in Christ's church, there's something very useful in these stories. Yes, there is lots of sermon and Bible teaching illustration fodder, but there's more. You may recall how Eugene Peterson enlisted Wendell Berry to describe pastoral ministry. I'm drafting Harriot for the same. This bundle of tales felt like the ups and downs of doing Christian ministry. The "professional" relationships with Siegfried and Tristan, where even Siegfried's overachieving self-righteousness slips through and becomes laughable.  The uniqueness of each client and their situation to include family dynamics. The singularity of the conditions of the animals (birds, housedogs, farm animals, etc.) and trying to figure out how to treat them, when what works for one might not always work for others, and so forth. The need to stop and see the place where he serves, its colors, smells, and rituals. The frustration with the people depending on folk-medicine and folk-treatments, their giving more credence to magical properties of "cures" sold by hucksters, and more. How some of the people were skeptical of veterinary medicine and veterinarians, and would only call them in after it was almost too late (or was too late).  I could go on with the list. In many ways, it struck me as similar to pastoral ministry in the 21st Century.

All told, I was delighted with the work. I found the stories captivating. I laughed, groaned, and was saddened, depending on the episode. I took a whole month to read through, maybe a chapter or two a day, to allow it to soak in. I highly recommend the book.